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National Register

National Park Service

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.

Built during World War II in 1945 at Higgins Industries Boatworks in New Orleans, PT-658 is a fully-restored and operational example of a rare 625 Class Higgins Patrol Torpedo Boat (PT Boat). Only 36 boats of this type were constructed. PT-658 is 78.75 feet long, with a 20.25-foot beam and a 5.6-foot draft. Completed on July 30, 1945, the boat was originally slated to join Squadron 45 and assigned to the Pacific Fleet, but the boat never saw action. Today Pt-659 is floating on the north bank of the Willamette River, housed in a custom-built boathouse at Swan Island in north, Portland Oregon. Although they were small and crewed by only 16 sailors, the PT boat was an indispensible part of combat actions used against the Axis powers throughout the Pacific and European theaters of war. The first Higgins boats were used against the Imperial Japanese forces in the Battle for the Aleutian Islands and in the Mediterranean against Nazi Germany and her allies. They were used to support the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944. PT boats were used for harassing enemy shore installations, supporting friendly troop landings, destroying floating mines, sinking enemy shipping targets, destroying enemy landing barges, rescuing downed pilots, landing partisans behind enemy lines, and attacking enemy island outposts.